The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has said that the Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu, will be opened for local and international commercial flights before Christmas.
On August 24th the federal government shut down Enugu airport for major repairs and work on the airfield.
Speaking on Channels Television yesterday, the minister said that work is on-going and if there is sufficient funding to complete repairs to the dilapidated runway, the Federal Government intends to open it before the Christmas celebration commences.
“Work is on-going. If everything is equal and we get all of the funding, we intend to open it before Christmas. Work does not necessarily mean the bringing of equipment into the airport to begin the reconstruction of that particular airport or runway; work entails the planning, mobilising people for work and the actual work itself.
“The planning is even more important than the work itself because when you plan very well, you succeed. This runway closed itself because it actually failed and we kept trying to get it to function very well but it kept failing on a daily basis.
“We were very afraid that what happened in Port Harcourt many years ago could happen on this runway because in Port Harcourt it was failing and the then ministry of aviation was doing the best they can to keep the runway safe, but unfortunately, the runway started to fail and when Air France landed, it got stuck. It took two and half years to get the runway back to function properly,” Sirika said.
He explained that every airport has its maintenance program with facility management and things are being set in place at the airport to be able to do maintenance as at when due, adding that if the runway needs total resurfacing and reconstruction , the federal government would do all of that,” Sirika said.
Following s regulatory framework to shut down the Akanu Ibiam Airport, the Federal Government announced In May that the airport will be closed and domestic flights will be diverted to the Owerri Cargo Airport while international flights would be diverted to Port Harcourt.
IFEOMA OKEKE
